Cuttack, July 4: The Odisha Milk Farmers' Association today distributed milk free of cost to people here as a mark of protest against the alleged anti-farmer policy of the state government.

The association members alleged that the decision of Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (Omfed) to procure less milk had adversely affected the livelihood of nearly 2.77 lakh dairy farmers in the state.

The dairy farmers are incurring a loss of Rs 52 lakh per day after Omfed slashed its procurement by 31 per cent from April.

Earlier, Omfed used to procure more than 7.5 lakh litres of milk. Post April, it procures 5.26 lakh litres of milk.

"We are demanding a hike in the procurement price to Rs 30 per litre as milk is being sold at Rs 40 per litre in several other states in the country. The hike in prices will certainly benefit the dairy farmers," said Rabi Behera, president of the milk farmers' association.

Behera said that though the association had earlier sought the intervention of the government, no step has been taken to protect the livelihood of the dairy farmers.

The farmers from Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Puri, Khurda and Cuttack distributed nearly 100 litres of milk to people in the city to press for their demands.

Later, the farmers submitted a memorandum to the revenue divisional commissioner seeking the intervention of the chief minister.

The Odisha Milk Farmers' Association is also demanding inclusion of milk and other milk products, such as paneer, in various government schemes, including the midday meal programme, and bank loan at one percent for dairy farmers.

"The state government should provide milk and paneer as a supplementary diet in all the government hospitals and also under the midday meal programme as it will provide an alternative source of revenue to the milk producers in the state," said Narayan Dalua, a dairy farmer.